


Tall Tales

by Zhie



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Best Friends, Gen, Humor, Stupidity, almost getting eaten by really scary creatures, prehistoric creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 17:05:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15890328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zhie/pseuds/Zhie
Summary: Middle-earth can be a scary place, especially when you're still discovering just what's out there.  Who needs trouble from Morgoth and friends when their are giant mammals and flying dinosaurs to avoid?





	Tall Tales

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThePioden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePioden/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Cuivienen Man Chased Up Tree by Andrewsarchus for Third Time This Week](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/414276) by ThePioden. 



> Thank you to Nuinzilien & AnnEllspethRaven for their beta reading assistance!
> 
> Based on the work "Cuivienen Man Chased Up Tree by Andrewsarchus for Third Time This Week" by ThePioden.

“What is it?” hissed the voice of a very tall Elf with bright blue eyes and long white hair.

His companion, whose nearly black hair was pulled back from his face, shrugged.  “I thought perhaps you might know.”

Starlight lit up the Cuiviénen, causing it to sparkle as the water gently rippled the surface.  Behind a bush with large pink flowers streaked with white that seemed to attract liberal numbers of giant blue and green hummingbirds, two elves peeked through the dark foliage at the beast traversing the shoreline, nosing at turtles as they hastened to return to the water, sliding over rocks and sand.

“That is the biggest sharp-tooth I have ever seen,” whispered Elwë.  “We should warn the others.” He started to step away, but a hand on his shoulder startled him and caused him to turn back around.  

“We need to give it a name first,” said Finwë, a sparkle in his blue-grey eyes. “If you have never seen one before, chances are unlikely that Rúmil has seen one, either.  I get tired of Rúmil making up all of the words for all of the things.”

“Go on then,” prodded Elwë.  “Name it so we can get out of here.”

“I cannot just pull a name out of thin air,” argued Finwë.  “It needs to be something suitable for such an enormous hunter.  A strong name, but one that is easy to remember. Not too easy -- it needs to be special.”  

Elwë rubbed his temples.  “Can we ponder this a little further away, please?”  As they conversed, the animal was lazily heading in their direction, and while Finwë seemed fine with this development, Elwë took a step back.  He neglected to look where he was going, slipped on a piece of driftwood, and fell with a loud ‘ooof!’

Both he and Finwë stared at each other with wide eyes.  Finwë looked back to the beach, where the creature was now looking in their direction and sniffing the air.  “Maybe he will just go away,” whispered Finwë as he continued to keep an eye on the creature.

Elwë nodded and slowly stood up again.  Once more, his feet were unfortunate, and he stepped on the dried branch, which snapped loudly.  In wide-eyed terror, he froze as the beast roared and began to charge down the beach in the direction of the Elves.

“RUN!” Finwë grabbed hold of Elwë’s arm at the elbow and pulled him along until Elwë found his footing and sped past Finwë.  “Up ahead! That tree!”

Elwë did not need to be told twice.  He leaped from the ground to grab hold of a low branch, and then while carefully balancing, reached down to help Finwë as he did the same.  The pair continued to climb up, higher and higher, as the creature came to a halt beneath the tree, snapping and snarling while they raced to reach the top and a place to rest.

“Whew!  That was close!  This one was much faster,” said Finwë as he flopped onto his back, chest heaving.

Slowly, Elwë looked away from the beast below and to his companion.  “THIS one?”

“Much bigger than the last one, too,” added Finwë.

Elwë yanked Finwë up by the front of his shirt.  “This is not the first one you have encountered?!”

“Oh, no,” replied Finwë calmly.  “Third time this week one of them chased me up a tree.”

Elwë let go of the fabric and groaned.  “Finwë…”

But Finwë was leaning over the side of the tree, looking down at the creature that was on its back legs, scraping at the bark with its paws.  “Look at the size of those jaws!”

“I would rather not,” Elwë said.  He was now sitting with his arms folded over his chest, glaring at Finwë.  “You knew that was going to happen.”

“What a commanding pose!”  Finwë flailed when he nearly leaned too far, only to be pulled back by Elwë.  “He needs a powerful name,” Finwë stated. “You can help me come up with a name,” he suggested.

Elwë continued to pout and glare.  “Why would I do that?”

“What else are you going to do up here?” prodded Finwë.

Elwë sighed.  Slowly, he crouched down and then peeked over the side of the tree.  “That is a very impressive creature,” he admitted. “Not one I like seeing this close.”

“There is nothing to fear up here,” Finwë said firmly.  “They cannot climb, so far as I know. They seem to have short attention spans, too.  As soon as he hears something else he might be able to eat, he will be off again.”

Below, the creature circled their hideaway and growled mightily in the back of its throat.  Elwë drew back and rubbed his forehead, but once again, Finwë leaned over the side. “If you fall down there,” threatened Elwë, “I will consider you a loss and climb down and run back to safety while it devours you!”

 

“You would not,” chided Finwë.  “You would be beside yourself not to have me around for conversations.  You would be dreadfully sad that there would be no one who would help you pull pranks on your little brother.  You would bemoan to everyone how no one is there to harmonize with you in song. You would--”

“There is always Ingwë,” Elwë said, almost too quickly.

Finwë drew back to sit on the branches of the canopy with Elwë.  “That was mean,” he scolded with a pout. “You would cry your sorrows over my demise to Ingwë and be consoled?”

“No, just the conversation and singing part,” corrected Elwë.  “He thinks it childish when we tease Olwë.”

“Oh.”  Finwë fingered one of the lush green leaves nearest to him.  “So you would not be consoled over my demise.”

“I would be heartbroken,” Elwë offered, and this seemed to cheer Finwë up a bit.  “However, that would not stop me from enjoying my life with conversation and song, and avoiding further encounters with strange beasts whose only goal is to chomp on every bit of me and crush my bones and eat me whole so that none is left for the vultures!”  Finwë huffed and returned to the edge of the tree.

“We need to go on more adventures.  You need to open your mind to new encounters and--”

“Like the encounter we had with the liquid sand?” interrupted Elwë.  Now he, too, moved nearer to the edge of the tree so that Finwë was less likely to ignore him.  “That miserable pit of unnatural granulation that you wished to explore and sunk deeper and deeper within while muttering such idiocy as ‘fascinating!’ whilst I scrambled about to retrieve vines enough to retrieve you without harm?”

“And you did a marvelous job of it,” commended Finwë, rewarding Elwë with a kiss on the cheek.  Elwë groaned and hung his head. “Your concerns are unfounded! We have always managed in the past.  See -- the beast retreats,” said Finwë as the creature sulked away a few paces.

The powerful animal did not intend to leave, however.  As soon as it was several paces away, it turned about and ran at the tree, springing up with claws spread out, and made an attempt to latch onto the bark and climb.  This lasted only a few seconds, while the elves above held their collective breath. The creature was back on the ground in a matter of seconds, pacing again.

“You were saying?” asked Elwë in a most annoyed tone.

“This is intriguing -- I have never seen them use that technique before,” mused Finwë.

Elwë groaned and climbed back to the safety of the center of the tree.  “Wake me up when it leaves,” he grumbled, and he tucked himself under one of the large leaves to nap.

For several minutes, Finwë watched the hunter below while Elwë began to drift off into reverie.  Elwë was awakened when he heard Finwë say, “This one is particularly intelligent. I wonder if it could be tamed.”

“What?  No,” cautioned Elwë.  “No more strange pets!”

“The snake was not all that strange,” defended Finwë.  “Neither were the swans.”

“I am talking about the giant lizard thing you found that spit on everything,” Elwë recalled with great disdain.  “That thing was unnatural, the way it just laid there, unmoving, likely unbreathing, and then suddenly it would lunge and race at something -- or someone -- with such unanticipated speed.”

“Your brother has strange and unusual pets,” countered Finwë.  “Giant, dangerous pets.”

Elwë glared over his nose at Finwë.  “My brother does not have pets. He had companions, friends, who are animals, and are helpful, and do not try to eat Elves!”

All was quiet until Finwë remarked, “You never know.  If an eagle gets hungry enough, and it is carrying Olwë, it might just flip him over its head and have a little snack.”

With a shake of his head, Elwë looked down and his eyes widened.  “Oh, no,” he groaned.

“What--oh!  What luck! Two of them!” Finwë peered over as far as he dared.  “And the colors are different. I wonder if they are both the same gender, or if this could be a mated pair!”

“Do you know what I wonder?” asked Elwë.  He did not wait for Finwë to ask what that might be.  “I wonder if we are going to make it down out of this tree alive!”

“Technically, we could make it down alive, but I doubt we would stay alive for long,” warned Finwë.

Elwë stared at the back of Finwë’s head and frowned deeply.  A very deeply hidden and mean part of him almost wanted to shove him out of the tree.  Instead, he yanked Finwë up by the shoulder and gave his own warning. “If this ever happens again, we are done being friends.  I do not like starting my day with the thought that I may not make it to the next morning. You live life far too dangerously, Finwë.  This is it. Last one. I will help you to name these things, and the tree we are in, and whatever else stumbles by while we are stuck up here, and after that, let us stick to flowers and insects and things that cannot kill us!”

“That seems fair,” reasoned Finwë.  Elwë let go of Finwë and sighed. “Now, what if, perhaps, a very dangerous animal happens upon us while we are just looking for birds and insects and the like?  Or, what if it is a giant insect that feeds on Elves?” The glare Finwë received from Elwë caused him to press his lips together, pause, and then say, “Well, we can cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“No.  No bridges.  No giant insects, no terrifying creatures, no more dangerous things.  There is enough danger in the world without you making more up for us!”  Elwë peered up into the sky and pointed at something. “Is that one of the eagles?” he asked as it circled, lower and lower.  

“I do believe it is,” mused Finwë.  He began to wave his arms in the air.

“Perhaps it can fly us back to safety,” Elwë said hopefully.  He, too, began an attempt to signal at the eagle. As the bird came closer, it was obvious someone was riding it.  “Oh, great. That looks like Olwë.”

“That is good, though.  Surely, he will help us,” reasoned Finwë.

Elwë flopped on his back.  “He will, but he will also make fun of us and tell everyone we know about our situation.  Everyone is going to know we are the two biggest idiots this side of the Cuiviénen.”

“It could be worse.  We could have been eaten,” Finwë said as he continued to wave his arms about.

“At least with that scenario we stood a chance of disappearing under mysterious circumstances for our reputations to remain untarnished,” grumbled Elwë.  He rolled out of the way as the air from the eagle’s wings could be felt, and allowed space for the eagle to land. “Good day, brother,” said Elwë.

“Is it?” wondered Olwë, who stayed seated on the back of the eagle.  This Elf looked much like Elwë, except he had silver hair and eyes to match.  “You seem to be at the top of a tree, and what is worse, with friends below.”

“Friends is such an inaccurate word,” Elwë said.  “You, brother, would be a true friend if you were to rescue us now from this predicament.”

“How do you propose I do that?” Olwë asked.

Both Finwë and Elwë pointed at the eagle Olwë was riding.

“Ah.  While that seems logical, this eagle is just a youngling.  He cannot possibly carry another passenger, let alone two,” explained Olwë.  “What is more, even if I had a full-grown eagle, two passengers would be a strain.”

“What if it was a really big eagle?” asked Finwë.  “Could the eagle carry you and I back, and then return for Elwë?”

Elwë shot Finwë a perturbed look.  “Why would I have to remain here while the two of you left first?” demanded Elwë.  “I was not the one who got us into this!”

“Peace, Elwë,” said Finwë calmly.  “You are taller than either of us, so you obviously weigh more.”

“It would not matter.  The eagles will not risk their lives for this.  The only reason I managed to bring this one with me is that he is young and adventurous, else he would have remained in the eyries like the others.”  Olwë rubbed his chin. “Perhaps I can find a way to lure them away, though, so that you can climb back down.”

“Excellent idea, Olwë,” commended Finwë.  

Olwë pointed to one of the long, hairy vines that hung down from the top of the tree.  “Hoist one of those up for me. I will use that as a distraction; I am not confident of flying too close to those creatures.  What are they, anyhow?”

“We do not--”

Finwë clamped his hand over Elwë’s mouth and said, “We have a name for them, but we do not want to say it until we are back with the others.  We want to tell everyone of our findings at the same time!”

Accepting of the explanation, Olwë patiently waited for Finwë and Elwë to pull one of the vines up.  It was unable to be torn from the tree, so the young eagle obliged in severing it with his mighty beak.  “Wish me luck,” said Olwë once he had the vine in hand.

Finwë and Elwë watched at Olwë made several attempts to lure the creatures away.  If one followed the swinging vine that danced overhead, the other stayed. This game continued at least five times, until the smaller of the two beasts got the idea to leap up at the vine.  Its claws tangled in the vine, not only weighing it, the eagle, and passenger down, but also giving the creature a way to climb, for it seemed to understand that it could reach and get closer with the help of the vine.  “No good!” called out Olwë as he let go of the vine. He and the eagle soared back up while the beast landed, rolled, and shook itself off.

“Maybe you need a shorter vine,” suggested Finwë.

Olwë shook his head, right hand gripping his left shoulder.  “I injured myself. I need to get back and tend to my arm. That thing is heavy!  I am lucky I did not fall! I am sorry, brother, you are on your own for now!”

As Elwë watched Olwë fly away, Finwë sighed.  “Great. Well, now what are we going to do?”

“You got us into this,” Elwë reminded his companion.

“Technically, if you were not so loud--”

Elwë glared at Finwë.  “That is it. I refuse to talk to you anymore.”  Elwë crawled back under one of the leaves. “I am taking a nap.”

“I thought you were not talking to me,” Finwë said.

“Starting now!” Elwë pulled one of the giant leaves further over himself, but it bounced back.

Finwë only made it a handful of minutes before he began to speak again, even if it would a one-sided conversation.  “You know, if it were not for me, you would have a very boring existence. You would probably sit at home all day watching grass grow or feeding domesticated birds or sitting around singing songs.  I bring excitement to your life. Without me, you would lack purpose."

Elwë only snorted and turned away so that his back was to Finwë.   

"Think of all of the fantastic journeys we have been on.  Would you have gone stargazing from atop a mountain without me?  Or dove off that same mountain into the waters below, feeling like you could fly?  Would you have seen all of the magnificent creatures we have encountered without me?  Of course not! You just stay safe without me, and safe is boring. I make sure you live." 

"If this is living, you need to find a new hobby!" 

"Ah!  I knew I could get you talking again!"  Finwë shuffled over closer to Elwë. "We are two intelligent people," he complimented.  "Between the two of us, we should be able to outwit the two creatures below." 

Elwë sighed and extracted himself from his attempted solitude once again.  "Why could you not have taken an interest in flowers or rocks or leaves or... something less hungry?" 

"Is it really my fault that all of the interesting creatures are the hungry ones?"  Finwë peered over the side again, though now his expression changes for the first time.  "Oh. Oh, this could be a problem." 

"Well, yes, it has been a problem since the first one chased us on the beach," agreed Elwë, but when he looked over the side, he cringed.  "Where did the other three come from?" 

"Well.  I guess we have our answer as to whether that is a mated pair or not.  Those must be their pups," said Finwë. 

Elwë bowed his head and whimpered.  "They probably called them out of hiding because they find us to be no threat." 

"Oh... well, that would make sense," said Finwë.  "Good observation," he said, patting Elwë on the back. 

"I am not sure whether to thank you or hit you for that comment." 

"Try not to hit me right now.  I do not wish to fall out of this tree."  Finwë looked around the top of the tree for options.  "These leaves are quite large," he commented. "We might be able to use them to catch the wind, if we held onto either end of them and jumped from the tree." 

"I am not jumping from a tree with a leaf on a 'might be' theory," warned Elwë.  "Besides, this tree is strong. Neither of us has anything we can use to cut the leaf from the branch." 

From a pouch on his belt, Finwë produced a little sharp stone knife.  "Do you think this will work?" 

Elwë blinked and snatched the stone away.  "You have had this the entire time, and you said nothing?"   

"Would it have helped?" 

With another groan, Elwë handed it back.  "We could have broken off branches and made spears, or woven some of these vines into nets, or any one of a number of other things!" 

"Can we not do that now?" asked Finwë. 

"Not with five of them!" Elwë shouted. 

"Six." 

"Six?"  Elwë looked over the side.  Now a scruffier, older beast had joined the group.  "Great. Looks like the grandfather showed up, too. Pretty soon it will be a family reunion." 

"It could be worse," said Finwë. 

"Stop saying that!  Every time you say it, it gets worse!" Elwë pointed a finger at Finwë, grunted in frustration, and crawled back under his leaf.  "I am really, really done talking to you this time!"

“Oh, you do not mean that.”  Finwë waited for a response. “Elwë, what else are you going to do while stuck up here?”  Finwë tucked his little knife back into his satchel. “I wish I had brought a snack along.  I am getting a little hungry myself. I wonder if these leaves are edible.”

Elwë said nothing.

“I wish the trees grew closer together.  Then we could use the vines to swing between them and get away.  Or, we could have confused the first creature by running around them to get away.”

“How would running around the creature have allowed us to get away from it?” asked Elwë.

“No, no, running around the trees to--oh, good, you are talking again,” said Finwë.  “Now, I was...thinking...oh. It appears your brother has returned.” Finwë stood up and looked up at the sky where something was circling their tree again.  Finwë waved one arm in the air, and whatever was aloft circled lower.

“Olwë was hurt,” Elwë reminded Finwë.  Elwë crawled out from beneath the leaf and stood with Finwë to look up, but did not make motions toward the sky.  “It seems bigger than the last one.”

“Maybe he was able to find a big one that could carry both of us,” suggested Finwë.  

Elwë seemed unconvinced, and as the creature above came closer to them, his eyes widened.  “That is no eagle,” he declared.

“No?”  Finwë lowered his arm and squinted.  “What is it?”

“I do not know, but I think I do not want to!”  Elwë pulled Finwë down as the airborne creature swooped down, claws stretched apart.  As almost an afterthought, Elwë scrambled back under one of the leaves, and pulled Finwë close just as the flying beast grabbed at them with its talons.  “It looks like a lizard with wings and a beak!”

“Fascinating!” came Finwë’s reply.  “I suppose this is what you mean about it getting worse every time I say it could not be worse.”

Again the creature made another pass at the top of the tree, and its claws tore into the leaves, but it missed both Elves.  “If we get out of here, I swear, we are really, really, never ever, ever going to go looking for things like this ever again!”

The flying creature took flight again, only to circle around the tree once more, but this time, it dived further, and flew just above the beasts on the ground.  This caused the oldest and youngest ones to scatter, while the initial pair held their ground. It took two more passes, but this seemed enough to chase the rest away.

“I want one of those,” Finwë declared.

“Absolutely not,” answered Elwë as the winged lizard swooped again and shrieked at them.  “Come on. I think that thing wants us out of this tree, and I do not want to stay up here to see if those other things return.”

The pair of Elves began their descent.  A quarter of the way from the top, they paused, for there was something they had not previously noticed.  “This must be her nest,” remarked Finwë of the hollowed out part of the trunk where the heads of two tiny fliers poked out and called out with chirps.  “I wonder if I could raise one to adulthood,” he said as he reached out with the intent of petting one on the head, until one tiny beak, filled with two rows of sharp little teeth snapped at him.  “On second thought, everyone is probably wondering where we are.”

“That should have been your first thought,” scolded Elwë.  He reached the bottom first, but Finwë was not far behind. “Before you say another word, we are heading back home, and we are going to spend a really long time eating, sleeping, singing, and staying away from--what was that?”

Finwë lifted his head and flicked his ears.  “Sounded like a growl.” The noise was heard again by both of them.  “That is a different noise than the one that those beasts were making,” he said.  “I wonder what--”

“No.”  And with that, Elwë took hold of Finwë’s hand and ran back to the encampment, pulling Finwë the rest of the way home.

\---

"That was a good story, grandfather, but what did you end up calling the creature?" asked Findaráto.

"Oh... I forget now," answered Finwë. 

"You forgot?"  Angaráto did not look convinced.  "You remember everything, grandfather." 

Finwë scratched his ear.  "It was a really long time ago." 

Sitting in the great room of Finwë's house, he was surrounded by two of his sons, Ñolofinwë  and Arafinwë, and their wives, sons and daughters. Often when both families came to visit, they would spend much time together, for these two sets of grandchildren were more like siblings than cousins, and many of the nights ended with all of them in this room listening to the tales that their grandfather told. 

"It was not that long ago, surely, father," spoke Arafinwë.  "You are not all that old." 

"Kind words, my son, but a full life have I had, and sometimes, certain parts of tales escape me." 

"Maybe we could find the creatures in one of your books," said Írissë, and already she was perusing the tomes on the nearest shelf. 

"That seems unnecessary."  The comment did not come from Finwë, but from her own father  "I am sure we would all rather hear another story from grandfather." 

"I want to know what the animals were," said Turukáno.  "I have never heard of any creatures you have described." 

"Oh, some were hunted until there were none left, and some seemed just to disappear.  Others just remained in Middle-earth when we left to come here, to safety from terrible beasts and flying lizards.  We have no trees like the one I told you about here in Valinor, but we have other things," said Finwë. 

"I would like to have seen all of those things," said Findekáno.   

"Perhaps at a distance," said Ambaráto, and Angaráto nodded in agreement. 

Írissë held up a book triumphantly.  "I found one about the creatures of Middle-earth," she exclaimed happily, and brought it to where she and Artanis had been sitting.  The two ladies began to search the volume for anything resembling the things their grandfather had told them about. 

"Maybe we should retire for bed," suggested Ñolofinwë .  "We have had a very full day, and there are more adventures to be had tomorrow." 

"No adventures like the ones grandfather had," said Findaráto with a smile. 

"This is strange," said Írissë suddenly. 

Findekáno came over to perch on the arm of the couch where his sister was sitting.  "What is?" he asked as he peered down at the book she and Artanis held open. 

"There is a creature here that fits the description," said Artanis.  "The name, though is very peculiar." 

"What is it called?" asked Turukáno. 

"The notes in this book call it a turukáno," said Írissë. 

Slowly, Turukáno turned his head to look at his father.  "Did you name me after some fierce land animal that tried to eat Elves?" 

Ñolofinwë  shrugged and looked quite sheepish.  "I love my father's stories just as much as all of you do," he defended.   

"I told him not to," offered Anairë.  "He did it anyhow."

"Am I named after something?" asked Írissë.  Her cousin was already skimming the index, and the look on her father's face indicated that there was a strong possibility.  A tapping noise alerted her that Artanis had found something, and Írissë looked down. "The flying thing was an írissë. You named me after a lizard."

"It was the only thing in the stories that I knew was female," answered Ñolofinwë .   

Írissë did not look particularly upset, but also did not seem to buy this explanation fully.  "How did you know for sure?" She looked at her grandfather. 

"It had a nest," reasoned Finwë. 

"It still might have been the father," said Artanis. 

"I like my name well enough anyhow, even if I do share it with a lizard with wings," Írissë said, for she could tell that the conversation was causing her father some embarrassment, and did not wish to have him feel discouraged about his choices. 

"I do not mind, either," spoke up Turukáno.  "In fact, I feel pretty good about my name now.  I wonder how many people even know about turukános." 

"This is going to become his new talking point," teased Artaresto. 

Only Findekáno seemed cautious with his next comment, for he had taken the book to look through the index, and did not find his own name listed there.  "Though I may regret asking this, was I named after something in one of grandfather's stories? I do not see my name in this book, and that would make it seem it is not so." 

"You are just another of the lucky 'Fins' of the family," said Findaráto.  "There have to be some of us carrying on those traditional names." 

"Actually," said Ñolofinwë , "you are named after something your grandfather named.  Something in this very story, in fact," he added. 

"Oh!  Let me guess," said Írissë with excitement.  "The eagle." 

"No," said Ñolofinwë . 

"The hummingbirds?" wondered Turukáno. 

"Wrong again," Ñolofinwë  said. 

"Do not tell me it was the tree."  Findekáno closed his eyes and let out a muted groan as his father nodded.  "Írissë gets a really interesting flying creature, Turukáno has some powerful beast, and I get a tree?" 

"That tree protected Elwë and I," spoke up Finwë.  "It was strong and steadfast, and it sheltered us when we were attacked, and it provided us a means of escape.  If not for that tree, none of us would be here right now." 

Findekáno considered this and finally nodded.  "I guess being a tree is not so bad," he conceded. 

Now it was one of the youngest who had a question, and Arakáno politely asked, "Please, father, tell me, was I named for something in one of grandfather's stories?  I should like to know if I was, and even if it was something rather small or insignificant, I think I would like that all the same as if it was something important or exciting." 

Ñolofinwë  smiled and looked to his father for confirmation of what he already knew. 

"Indeed, you were named after something from a story, something from long ago in Middle-earth," said Finwë.  "It was from another tale, though, one I have not told before." 

"Go on, then, grandfather," begged Írissë.  "Please tell us the story." 

"Well... I suppose we have time for one more," Finwë decided.  "Once upon a time..."


End file.
